In the production of blister packs of small objects such as pills, capsules, or tablets, it is standard to deposit a large number of the objects on top of a lower packaging film that is formed with an array of upwardly open blisters and that is slowly advancing in a transport direction. The blisters are typically dimensioned so that they can each hold a single one of the object, just filling it and lying below the plane of the upper face of the film. By vibrating the film sweeping the objects across it with a rotating brush or a bar, the objects are moved about such that one finds its way into each blister and the others are pushed to the side. Then an upper film is set atop the filled lower film and the two films are bonded together between the blisters, and finally the laminated-together films are cut into sections each having one or more of the blisters.
The known systems occasionally leave some of the pockets empty, and are also subject to considerable wear. In addition a scraper bar often can catch on and damage one of the objects as it moves back and forth over the film. In general such systems are often the weak link in the production chain, and most rejected packages are the result of faults taking place in the fill station.